Last Day of Fall Bird Banding

Since we caught an American Tree Sparrow five days ago, it was time to consider closing for the season. Today was the day, November 2nd.  When it got warm enough, we opened the nets and started catching birds.  With it being a good day, we banded - 10 American Goldfinches, 5 Oregon Juncos, 2 Slate-colored Juncos, 1 Blue Jay, 2 Black-capped Chickadees, and 1 Northern Mockingbird. 

Other birds we saw in the area were a Townsend's Solitaire, lots of Red-winged Blackbirds flying over, a flyover Ring-billed Gull, Black-billed Magpies, House Finches, and a Spotted Towhee.

Twelve Meter Mist Net

American Goldfinch

American Goldfinch

Blue Jay

Measuring the Blue Jay's leg to see what band size it would take.

Weighing Blue Jay.  With most birds, you have to weigh them in something that they can't escape, such as a tube.  With Blue Jays and some other kinds of birds, you can lay them on their back, and they stay because they become disoriented. 

Releasing the Blue Jay

This Northern Mockingbird has been in the gulch for the entire fall banding season.  It was first caught and banded two months ago when it was looking ragged, as it was in serious molt.  Now, it is looking fantastic!

Photo of the same Northern Mockingbird two months ago.

Zoom in and you will see how many feathers are in sheath.

Taking down nets for the winter.

More Fall Bird Banding

Due to freezing early morning temperatures, we waited a couple hours before opening any nets at the gulch.  At 9:30 AM, we opened half of the nets, and the first bird caught and banded was an American Tree Sparrow, a sign of approaching winter.

Banding American Tree Sparrows is a sign that 

the fall banding season will soon be over.

Brown Creepers are very exciting to see up close!  We caught and banded two today.

Brown Creepers

Another nice treat was this Mountain Chickadee.

Fall Bird Banding Surprises

Another day of banding awaited us on an early Monday morning.  As the sun peaked above the horizon, we opened the mist nets on the east side of the gulch at a private local banding station under a mostly cloudy sky.  At the “soggies” (a lane of three twelve meter nets), I caught a quick glimpse of a White-throated Sparrow, which we captured in the net later in the day.

This White-throated Sparrow we caught was previously banded last Saturday.

After a few dry net runs, a Sharp-shinned Hawk flew through the gulch flushing lots of birds into the nets.  Thanks to the Sharpie, one of the birds caught was a Northern Parula, a rare migrant warbler!

This beautiful Northern Parula was an unusual catch.

We ended the day with a big surprise.  The Sharp-shinned Hawk managed to get in one of the western nets!

Immature Male Sharp-shinned Hawk.

The other, more usual birds we banded that day were Black-capped Chickadees, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbers, an Orange-crowned Warbler, Song Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, a Spotted Towhee, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Goldfinches, and a House Finch.